Stourbridge Town is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

near the centre of

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated at the end of a short branch line linking the station with Stourbridge Junction, 0.8 miles away, where passengers can change for mainline train services. It is said to be the shortest operational branch railway line in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

History

It opened to passenger traffic on Wednesday 1 October 1879, Stourbridge Town was built because it was considered that the existing station at Stourbridge Junction was situated too far from

town centre. The original station, built of white brick with courses of stone, and red and blue brick, situated upon the site now occupied by Stourbridge

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

, was a surprisingly grand affair, with one 298 ft (91 m) platform paved with ornamental blue bricks and substantial brick buildings covered by a full-length awning of wood and glass on an iron framework. The building comprised a first and second-class ladies’ waiting room, third class ladies’ waiting room, first and second-class general waiting room, third-class general waiting room, a parcels and clock room, lamp room and offices. The booking office was in the centre of the block of rooms between the two general waiting rooms, in each of which was a ticket portal. The station was closed as a wartime economy measure between 1 April 1915 and 3 March 1919, with passenger services being replaced by

Midland Red Midland RedCompanies House extract company no 82681
Midland Re ...

buses. During the

General Strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

in 1926, the bus service between Junction and Town stations was re-introduced from 7 May to 10 July to cover for the withdrawn train services. Stourbridge Town Station, Michael Westley, 1645368

Stourbridge Town Station, Michael Westley, 1645368

The station and branch were listed for closure in 1964 under the

Beeching axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, but won a stay of execution in 1965, although the station lost its parcels service and became unstaffed from July 1967. The 1879 station survived mostly intact until February 1979 when it was demolished. In 1979, the branch was cut back by 70 yards (64 m) towards Junction station, leaving room for a bus station. The new station was a low-cost portable building built by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

and artifacts from the old station were acquired by the Birmingham Railway Museum for their depot at Tyseley. Despite threats and rumours of closure in the 1980s and 1990s, the station building was replaced in early 1994, with a new station opening to passengers on 25 April 1994. The current station is a small modern facility directly linked to the

allowing easy interchange with bus services at this urban

railhead In the UK, railheading refers to the practice of travelling further than necessary to reach a rail service, typically by car. The phenomenon is common among commuters seeking a more convenient journey. Reasons for railheading include, but are ...

. It has a single 170 ft (52 m) platform which is more than long enough to hold a single car Class 153 railcar, which formerly shuttled passengers between the station and Stourbridge Junction; the line now uses two Class 139

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

-type cars. Due to the nature of the gradient, there is a short section of rails behind the initial buffer stop to prevent accidents such as those which occurred in 1989 and 1990. This runs parallel to the station pathway, and is surrounded by a wall and railings for safety reasons.

Services

The shuttle service to Stourbridge Junction runs every ten minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every fifteen minutes on Sundays. All services are operated by PRE Metro Operations but is branded as West Midlands Railway.

References

External links

History

Services

References

Further reading

External links